The International Olympic Committee today granted the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to Rio de Janeiro, with Chicago eliminated in the first round of voting. The historic decision takes the games to the South American continent for the very first time. Also, unemployment continues to climb, and re-writing the book on evolution, based on a startling new discovery in the African desert. Conan Nolan guest hosts.

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The International Olympic Committee today granted the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to Rio de Janeiro, with Chicago eliminated in the first round of voting. The decision is a historic one that will take the games to the South American continent for the very first time. Also, unemployment continues to climb, and a major find in the Ethiopian desert is painting a remarkable picture of what life was like for our earliest evolutionary ancestors. Conan Nolan guest hosts.

Banner image: Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (L), Rio 2016 bid President Carlos Arthur Nuzman (C) and Brazilian football legend Pele (R) celebrate with their delegation after it was announced that Rio de Janeiro has won the bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games at the 121st International Olympic Committee session in the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark today. Photo: Charles Dharapak/AFP/Getty Images

As with the Academy Awards, first came the set-up of contenders, followed by the opening of the envelope. Then, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge announced that the 2016 Summer Olympic Games would be held in…Rio de Janeiro. Brazil's victory marks the first time in history that the games have been awarded to the South American continent. Rio bested Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago. Shockingly, the Windy City was the first to be eliminated, despite a personal pitch from President Barack Obama and the First Lady Michelle. What happened? Did public opinion polls against the games sink the Chicago bid? Is this a blow to the President, who was criticized for making the trip in the first place?

A 4.4 million year-old skeleton has been uncovered in the Ethiopian desert, which is adding some new insight into how our evolutionary ancestors looked and behaved. The nearly complete skeleton, dubbed "Ardi," doesn't look at all like a chimpanzee or other large primate, and that has researchers intrigued. Tom Maugh is the science writer for the Los Angeles Times.

Labor Department figures indicate that the US lost another 263, 000 jobs in the month of September. The loss, larger than that recorded in August, comes at a time when many economists believed the recession was coming to a close. Michael Mandel is chief economist for BusinessWeek magazine and the author of Economics: The Basics.